27 "Stella, with all her wit and good sense, spelled very ill; and Dr.
Swift insisted greatly upon women spelling well" (Deane Swift).
28 "The slope of the letters in the words THIS WAY, THIS WAY, is to the left hand, but the slope of the words THAT WAY, THAT WAY, is to the right hand" (Deane Swift).
29 See Letter 17, note 24.
30 See Letter 5, note 11 and Letter 10, note 28.
LETTER 20.
1 By the Act 9 Anne, cap. 23, the number of hackney coaches was increased to 800, and it was provided that they were to go a mile and a half for one shilling, two miles for one shilling and sixpence, and so on.
2 See Letter 11, note 39.
3 In a letter to Swift, of March 17, 1711, King said that it might have been thought that Guiscard"s attack would have convinced the world that Harley was not in the French interest; but it did not have that effect with all, for some whispered the case of Fenius Rufus and Scevinus in the 15th book of Tacitus: "Accensis indicibus ad prodendum Fenium Rufum, quem eundem conscium et inquisitorem non tolerabant." Next month Swift told King that it was reported that the Archbishop had applied this pa.s.sage in a speech made to his clergy, and explained at some length the steps he had taken to prevent the story being published in the Postboy.
King thanked Swift for this action, explaining that he had been arguing on Harley"s behalf when someone instanced the story of Rufus.
4 A Tory paper, published thrice weekly by Abel Roper.
5 Sir Charles Duncombe, banker, died on April 9, 1711. The first wife of the Duke of Argyle (see Letter 11, note 57) was Duncombe"s niece, Mary Browne, daughter of Ursula Duncombe and Thomas Browne, of St.
Margaret"s, Westminster. Duncombe was elected Lord Mayor in 1700, and was the richest commoner in England.
6 The Rev. Dillon Ashe (see Letter 12, note 23).
7 John, fourth Baron Poulett, was created Earl Poulett in 1706, after serving as one of the Commissioners for the Treaty of Union with Scotland. From August 1710 to May 1711 he was First Lord of the Treasury, and from June 1711 to August 1714 he was Lord Steward of the Household.
8 Lost or stupid person.
9 Sir William Read, a quack who advertised largely in the Tatler and other papers. He was satirised in No. 547 of the Spectator. In 1705 he was knighted for his services in curing many seamen and soldiers of blindness gratis, and he was appointed Oculist in Ordinary to the Queen.
Read died in 1715, but his business was continued by his widow.
10 General John Webb was not on good terms with Marlborough. He was a Tory, and had gained distinction in the war at Wynendale (1708), though the Duke"s secretary gave the credit, in the despatch, to Cadogan. There is a well-known account of Webb in Thackeray"s Esmond. He was severely wounded at Malplaquet in 1709, and in 1710 was given the governorship of the Isle of Wight. He died in 1724.
11 Henry Campion, M.P. for Penryn, is mentioned in the Political State for February 1712 as one of the leading men of the October Club. Campion seems to have been Member, not for Penryn, but for Bossiney.
12 See Letter 3, note 32.
13 Sir George Beaumont, Bart., M.P. for Leicester, and an acquaintance of Swift"s mother, was made a Commissioner of the Privy Seal in 1712, and one of the Lords of the Admiralty in 1714. He died in 1737.
14 Heneage Finch, afterwards second Earl of Aylesford, was the son of Heneage Finch, the chief counsel for the seven bishops, who was created Baron Guernsey in 1703, and Earl of Aylesford in 1714.
15 James, Lord Compton, afterwards fifth Earl of Northampton, was the eldest son of George, the fourth Earl. He was summoned to the House of Lords in December 1711, and died in 1754.
16 See Letter 11, note 12.
LETTER 21.
1 In 1670 Temple thanked the Grand Duke of Tuscany for "an entire vintage of the finest wines of Italy" (Temple"s Works, 1814, ii.
155-56).
2 Mrs. Manley (see Letter 17, note 22).
3 Charles Caesar, M.P. for Hertford, was appointed Treasurer of the Navy in June 1711, in the room of Robert Walpole.
4 Joseph I. His successor was his brother Charles, the King of Spain recognised by England.
5 Simon Harcourt, M.P. for Wallingford. He married Elizabeth, sister of Sir John Evelyn, Bart., and died in 1720, aged thirty-five, before his father. He was secretary to the society of "Brothers," wrote verses, and was a friend of the poets. His son Simon was created Earl Harcourt in 1749, and was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
6 Doiley, a seventeenth-century linen-draper,--probably "Thomas Doyley, at the Nun, in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden,"--invented stuffs which "might at once be cheap and genteel" (Spectator, No. 283).
7 A special envoy. The Resident from Venice in 1710 was Signor Bianchi.
8 See Letter 17, note 5.
9 Nanfan Coote, second Earl of Bellamont, who died in 1708, married, in 1705, Lucia Anna, daughter of Henry de Na.s.sau, Lord of Auverquerque, and sister of Henry, first Earl of Grantham. She died in 1744.
10 "Farnese" (Deane Swift).
11 See Letter 20, note 3.
12 Swift"s changes of residence during the period covered by the Journal were numerous. On Sept. 20, 1710, he moved from Pall Mall to Bury Street, "where I suppose I shall continue while in London." But on Dec.
28 he went to new lodgings in St. Albans Street, Haymarket. On April 26, 1711, he moved to Chelsea, and from there to Suffolk Street, to be near the Vanhomrighs. He next moved to St. Martins Street, Leicester Fields; and a month later to Panton Street, Haymarket. In 1712 he lodged for a time at Kensington Gravel Pits.
13 At raffling for books.
14 James Brydges, Paymaster-General, and afterwards Duke of Chandos (see Letter 3, note 31).
15 Thomas Foley, M.P. for Worcestershire, was created Baron Foley in December 1711, and died in 1733.
16 See 25th April, 1711 and Letter 20, note 3.
17 See Letter 19, note 3.
18 Charles Dering, second son of Sir Edward Dering, Bart., M.P. for Kent, was Auditor of the Exchequer in Ireland, and M.P. for Carlingford.
19 See Letter 11, note 44.
20 See Letter 17, note 4.
21 A Whig paper, for the most part by Mainwaring and Oldmixon, in opposition to the Examiner. It appeared weekly from October 1710 to August 1711.
22 See Letter 17, note 22.